'Game Of Thrones' Season 8 Table Read Left Kit Harington In Tears, So The Rest Of Us Are Screwed

Game of Thrones Season 7 might have been shorter and sweeter, but it certainly packed several emotional wallops. Between the death of Viserion (and the raising of the Ice Dragon), the fall of the Wall, and the reveal of Jon Snow's true name, there was a lot of emotions going on. Fans assume next season will also pack an few tear jerker moments in as well. But news that the Game Of Thrones Season 8 table read left Kit Harrington in tears suggests we might not be ready for what's to come.

Harington, who is still in the middle of his press tour for his leading turn in the BBC drama Gunpowder, a show he helped produce, appeared on the BBC talk series The One Show. In the interview, he talked about the kick off for filming Season 8. The GoT cast flew into Belfast the weekend of Oct. 7 for a full table read of the final six episodes of the series on Oct. 9 and 10, and filming (at least for Harington) officially started this past Monday, Oct. 23.

Harington couldn't spill any plot details, of course, but he did talk about the experience of reading those final six scripts aloud with the rest of the cast.

Thankfully the tears came less because of any one incident, as much as due to the end of an chapter of his life that this represents:

I’m really emotional about it. We had the read through last week, so I know everything. But I cried at the end – not over anything particular that happened – but it’s been 8 years and no one cares about it more than we do.

But if just the series ending is an emotional experience for Harington and the others, we expect that emotional rawness will translate to their performances and leave us watching at home on television in tears as well. And that's not even counting the major emotional beats, or the on-screen deaths we're certain will come.

As it is, this season is going to be enormous in terms of scale, not just from the scripts, but from the sets as well. Though the Game of Thrones production team has gone to unprecedented lengths this season to keep scripts from leaking, and keep photographers away from sets, some of the additions this year are so large, they simply can't hide them.

Take, for instance, these images from a flyover of Titanic Studios. Usually when Game of Thrones is filming, it's the stuff that gets filmed on location that fans can catch glimpses of. Anything filmed inside the walls of the Belfast studio is hidden from view, which means that the production will film their most sensitive scenes there.

But this season the set is so large, it can't even fit within the enormous sound stages housed within the complex. If you click on the pictures to enlarge you'll see a huge siege engine, and a gigantic trebuchet for one of the upcoming Season 8 battles, just sitting out in the parking lot. Why? Because they don't fit anywhere else.

Meanwhile, out in Moneyglass where the Winterfell set sits, the walls of the castle have been completely built out, and reinforced so that actors may walk upon them, and battle against them.

This might seem like a place you've seen before on screen – and it is! But the difference is that before there was only a short walkway built out for Sansa and Jon (and then Sansa and Arya) to hang out on. The rest was all CGI. (It's also why the Stark siblings all seem to meet up on one spot.)

HBO

Now what was before just CGI walls are practical sets for people to fight upon and die upon in what is sure to be a stunning Battle for Winterfell. It brings a tear to the eye, no?